A quick break from analyzing the build-up to March Madness so I can share the great news about the extended coverage of the tournament on more networks than ever for 2011. Boom.
This year the NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be much more accessible and easier to catch on television than any year prior. This is awesome news. 2011 will bring tournament games on a foursome of networks, via the CBS Broadcast Center as the hub of all introductory and post-game shows. The $10.8 billion deal with CBS Sports and Time-Warner will bring games to CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV. And they’ll be there for a while – until 2024. In the past only CBS would show live games, and, on days when multiple games were occurring simultaneously, like the first two rounds, we used to only get regional coverage. Remember when the game you were watching would cut away to a different regional game to show you something that CBS deemed important? Yeah, probably no more of that. Unless they just cut to Turner’s Atlanta studio to get some opinions from Chuck Barkley. Yep, he’s involved. Excellent.
This year, all games will be shown nationally, not regionally. If you are lucky enough to be deep in your butt groove on the couch on those first two days of the tournament, you’re in for a LOT of televised basketball. This is all great news for the avid fan, or just the casual bracket-follower trying to win millions of dollars in 2011. This might be your year? Yeah, I say that every year. Good luck. At least you’ll be able to catch all of the live action. I know I can’t wait to watch my bracket collapse by Friday!
About Jeff Werkheiser
